Patricia Stallings
Real Name: Patricia Stallings Case: Appeal Location: Jefferson County, Missouri Date: July 9, 1989 Case Details: On July 9, 1989, Patricia Stallings rushed her three-month-old son, Ryan, to Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, after he became violently ill. Since birth, he had suffered from chronic gastric distress. On the day he was brought to the emergency room, his breathing became extremely labored and he was vomiting uncontrollably. He was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit. Patricia and her husband, David, rented a room at the hospital to be close to their son. After three days, they were told that Ryan would recover. However, they were also told that he had been poisoned. Lab tests showed that he had ethyl glycol and acetone in his body. Ethyl glycol is normally found in antifreeze and acetone is normally found in fingernail polish. The Stallings confirmed that both substances were in their home. The doctors were suspicious of the couple. Detectives were brought in to question Patricia and David separately. They believed that one of them had poisoned Ryan; however, no charges were filed. His condition steadily improved and twelve days later, he was released from the hospital. However, he was not allowed to return to his parents. Instead, he was taken by social workers and placed in foster care. The Stallings were only allowed to see Ryan one hour a week, during a supervised visit. For five weeks, the visits continued without incident. On the sixth week, Patricia was left alone with Ryan for a short period of time. Three days later, he suffered another severe vomiting episode. Once again, he was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with ethyl glycol poisoning. Patricia was arrested and charged with assault on Ryan. At the same time, his condition worsened and he was placed on life support. David tried to get Patricia released so she could see Ryan, but the judge refused. On September 7, 1989, he was taken off life support; he passed away at 6:30pm. He was not yet six months old. Patricia's charges were upgraded to first-degree murder. She was not allowed to attend Ryan's funeral. A few weeks later, Patricia discovered that she was pregnant again. However, she remained in prison. On February 27, 1990, David "D.J." Stallings, Jr., was born at a Madison County hospital. Despite the fact that David was not a suspect, he was not allowed to take D.J. home and he became a ward of the state. When D.J. was two weeks old, he began showing symptoms almost identical to the ones Ryan had. The St. Louis Children's Hospital diagnosed his illness as a rare genetic disorder called Methylmalonic acidemia, or MMA. This causes the body to produce chemical byproducts that are similar to ethyl glycol found in antifreeze. According to a medical geneticist, it is easy for doctors to confuse MMA for ethyl glycol poisoning due to the similar symptoms. Because of its rarity, some doctors may not even realize that they are looking at MMA, and confuse it for ethyl glycol. Due to the new medical evidence, prosecutors began re-evaluating the case and Patricia was released from jail. However, she was not allowed to have visitation rights with D.J. Prosecutors decided to continue with their case against her. They were certain that Ryan had not died of MMA, but was instead poisoning. In the judge's chambers, prosecutors presented four expert witnesses who claimed that he was poisoned. The defense, however, presented no expert witnesses, so the judge ruled that D.J.'s MMA diagnosis was inadmissible in court. Without the medical testimony, the case against Patricia seemed virtually airtight. The prosecution focused on her and David's sixth supervised visit with Ryan. However, according to David, she was left alone with Ryan for less than a minute as he took his parents out of the room. Prosecutors believed that she had fed him ethyl glycol through a bottle. They claimed that traces of that was found in it. However, David claimed that he had given it to her and there was no apparent evidence of tampering. The defense pointed out that it took over three days for Ryan to have symptoms of ethyl glycol poisoning. The medical geneticist stated that it would be nearly impossible for him to have been poisoned during the sixth visit. The prosecutor, however, claimed that the foster parents may have not noticed the symptoms until later. On March 4, 1991, Patricia was convicted of Ryan's murder and sentenced to life in prison. She has only seen D.J. three times since his birth. David is only allowed to see him once a week. To this day, Patricia maintains her innocence. Extra Notes: This case first aired on the May 8, 1991 episode. It was also featured on Forensic Files. Results: Solved. After the broadcast, several physicians familiar with MMA called the telecenter in hopes of helping Patricia in her appeal. Her attorneys petitioned the court for a new trial and on July 30, 1991, she was granted a new trial and released from prison. On September 20, 1991, a press conference was held in St. Louis. Dr. Piero Rinaldo, a geneticist from Yale University, stated that independent serum tests confirmed that Ryan had definitely died of MMA. The prosecutor then dropped all of the charges against Patricia. During the press conference, the Stallings were told that custody of D.J. would be returned to them. In October 1991, he finally came home to them. The Stallings later sued the hospital and labs that incorrectly diagnosed Ryan with ethyl glycol poisoning. In 1993, they settled a lawsuit in which they were awarded several million dollars. They later divorced. Tragically, D.J. passed away on September 17, 2013 at the age of twenty-three. Sadly, David passed away on April 30th, 2019 following a lengthy illness at the age of fifty-seven. He is survived by his four children and one grandson. Links: * Patricia Stallings on Unsolved.com * Patricia Stallings at Wikipedia * Patricia Stallings on National Registry of Exonerations * Baby allegedly fed antifreeze * Infant poisoned with antifreeze * Woman found guilty of poisoning son * Disease, not poisoning may have killed infant * Ordeal is over for woman accused of killing her son * Convicted Woman Sues Her Child's Doctors, Lab * Mother cleared of ethylene glycol poisoning * Stallings continued * Not Guilty - How the system failed Patricia Stallings * The Murder That Never Was * Painfully true - Patricia Stallings can't bear to watch TV movie about her ordeal * Settlement with lab in misdiagnosed poisoning * Woman gives $10,000 to unseat prosecutor * David Stallings, Jr. on Find a Grave * David Stallings, Sr. on Dignity Memorial ---- Category:Missouri Category:1989 Category:Suspicious Deaths Category:Wrongly-Accused Cases Category:Court TV Cases Category:Solved